The Oklahoma Sooners head to the Cotton Bowl to face their bitter rival, the Texas Longhorns. This contest is one of the biggest and best in college football and one of the most storied. This year is the 118th meeting between the two schools and has been uninterrupted since 1929. The Longhorns lead the series 62-50 with five ties in the contest. Oklahoma came back from a 21-point deficit last season to win the game in the rivalry’s highest scoring contest to date. Needless to say, it is a massive game and one both teams have circled on the calendar every year.
Oklahoma has struggled the last two weeks and they have fallen to 0-2 in the conference. This is the second time they’ve suffered back-to-back losses in two years and only the second time since 1999; Bob Stoops’ first year as the head man at Oklahoma. We could go on and on about the start the Sooners have had in conference play, but remember how the team bounced back during COVID year? They went on to win the conference and also beat the Horns in Dallas.
“This has a chance to be a great, inspiring story… (but) one day at a time, one game at a time, they really began to show signs of who we thought they were. Look how they crawled out of this rough spot and then had this incredible finish to a really tough start… what a great opportunity! Not a lot of people are expecting a lot out of the Sooners, but I can promise you we are going to give you everything we’ve got!” – Head Coach Brent Venables
If you look back to last year’s matchup, the Sooners came in as the favorite and was throttled in the first quarter. Going down 21 points quickly to a Texas team that had all the momentum. The Oklahoma offense hadn’t played well to start the season; people were calling for Caleb Williams to replace Spencer Rattler as the starter all year; only outscoring their opponents by a total of 10 points in Big 12 play; it wasn’t a good start for the Sooners, despite being undefeated. Against Texas, Sooner fans would get their wish as Williams did come in on a 4th & short. He would get the first and then scamper for 66-yards and the score. Williams would play the remainder of the afternoon. Oklahoma came back to win the game in dramatic fashion as Kennedy Brooks scored with 3 seconds remaining to give the Sooners a 55-48 victory. This game sent Texas in a downhill spiral losing six of their last seven games and finishing the season at 5-7.
This year, the story is different. Oklahoma and Texas have struggled to begin the year. The Sooners are coming off back-to-back losses and Texas is just now getting their starting quarterback back in the lineup after suffering an injury against Alabama. They are 1-1 in the conference after losing to Texas Tech two weeks ago.
When speaking with OU Twitter’s very own @QB1TATTOO he said that he’s talked with people in the program, and they are “hopeful that he (Brent Venables) can turn it around.”
“If we win this game (we are) 4-2, it can help set up a good comeback to keep our sites on the Big 12 (Championship). However, if we go 0-3 in the conference, we are just looking to spoil someone else’s chance.” - @QB1TATTOO
The Sooners aren’t even sure who their starting quarterback will be as no one has stepped up and showed they can take the reins. They have three options they could go with: Davis Beville is a 6-foot 6-inch redshirt junior transfer from Pittsburgh, and he has taken the majority of the snaps as Gabriel’s back up. That leaves General Booty, a sophomore, and Nick Evers, a freshman. We saw a little of Booty last week in the defeat in Fort Worth, but Beville remained the guy for most of the game. Word is all three quarterbacks practiced with the starters this past week, but we will see what the decision is at game time.
No matter what happens before the game, Oklahoma and Texas will face off once again on Saturday in the historic Cotton Bowl. A storied rivalry with a great future. Does Oklahoma continue their recent dominance? Does Texas get revenge for last years dramatic loss?
Kickoff is at 11 a.m. on ABC.